=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2063/events-paper1
|storemode=property
|title=Toward a Core Conceptual Model for (Im)material Cultural Heritage in the Golden Agents project: Storifying data
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2063/events-paper1.pdf
|volume=Vol-2063
|authors=Veruska Zamborlini,Arianna Betti,Charles van den Heuvel
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/i-semantics/ZamborliniBH17
}}
==Toward a Core Conceptual Model for (Im)material Cultural Heritage in the Golden Agents project: Storifying data==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2063/events-paper1.pdf
Toward a Core Conceptual Model for (Im)material Cultural
Heritage in the Golden Agents project
Storyfying data
Veruska Zamborlini Arianna Betti Charles van den Heuvel
Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) Huygens Institute for the History of
Institute for Logic, Language and Institute for Logic, Language and the Netherlands
Computation (ILLC) Computation (ILLC) Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Amsterdam, The Netherlands Amsterdam, The Netherlands charles.va.den.heuvel@huygens.
v.zamborlini@uva.nl a.betti@uva.nl knaw.nl
ABSTRACT multi-agent technology in order to answer complex research ques-
This paper reports on the initial idea of a core conceptual model tions related to the Dutch Golden Age. The data is about cultural
for the Golden Agents Project, which aims to integrate several het- heritage including documents such as notary acts from the City
erogeneous datasets about cultural heritage of the Dutch Golden Archives that might bring relevant information about people and
Age. We hypothesize that the combination of event and storytelling their relation to the creative products. We are particularly interested
modeling would provide us a common infrastructure to represent in characterising features of the production and consumption, both
and retrieve some core information regardless to its specific nature: material and immaterial, by modeling events as parts of stories.
painting, book, notary act or theatre performance. The proposed To illustrate this model we use the case of Johannes Vermeer
model was developed based on (i) several discussions conducted (1632-1665), a famous painter from Delft who produced an also
with humanities experts and (ii) foundational ontology for ground- famous painting called ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in 1665. Centuries
ing the modeling decisions. It is assessed through a case study later, in 1999, this painting inspired Tracy Chevalier to produce a
about Vermeer, the painting ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ and a novel novel about the production of this painting using the same title as
written about the production of the painting. We conclude that the painting. From this, one can conclude that Chevalier ‘consumed’
the model satisfactorily addresses the case study, and we discuss the painting (content). Obviously, Vermeer is one of the characters
some next steps to further assess and extend the model, as well as in this story, as well as the unknown young European woman
implementing and testing it in practice. depicted in that painting [1].
An important step to reconcile heterogeneous information from
CCS CONCEPTS different but related matters is to investigate their common ‘nature’,
reason for which we had several discussions with humanities ex-
• Computing methodologies → Knowledge representation
perts. This paper reports on the initial investigation about a core
and reasoning; Ontology engineering;
conceptual model (see Sect. 2) that can serve as a common ground
KEYWORDS for the experts’ information needs. We hypothesize that our core
model should combine both event-based modeling and storytelling:
Ontology, Cultural Heritage, Storytelling, Events, Golden Agents records such as notary acts tell (mostly likely) real stories about
events in people’s life (e.g. baptism, habitation or death); and lit-
erary fiction books tell fictitious stories, possibly involving real
people or real historical events (e.g. the novel Girl with a Pearl
Earring tells a story around a real event which was the production
of that painting).
A central concept in this work is so called ‘idea’ as an abstract
product that is created or defined by someone and communicated
1 INTRODUCTION via an (im)material product. We provisionally adopt this term as
In the project Golden Agents: Creative Industries and the Making it seems to be broad enough as a hypernym for several types we
of the Dutch Golden Age1 we are interested in integrating several are interested in, such as story and scene, while we are still in-
heterogeneous datasets in combination of linked open data and vestigating if there would be a term that fits better our purpose.
1 https://www.goldenagents.org/ Other examples are techniques for painting or printing, genres and
styles, as well as concepts in the line of [3]. These ideas can be
reproduced several times (several editions of a book, or several
paintings with the same style or technique) and can also evolve
in time (e.g. a painter develops a new style influenced by another)
© 2017 Copyright held by the author/owner(s). which proposes that they also have a storyline of themselves. The
SEMANTiCS 2017 workshop proceedings: EVENTS parallel storylines resemble Kubler’s representation of time lines of
September 11-14, 2017, Amsterdam, Netherlands cultural production as multiple fibres [8].
EVENTS2017, Sep 2017, Amsterdam Veruska Zamborlini, Arianna Betti, and Charles van den Heuvel
This conceptual model is applied to the case study about the can be based in another idea, e.g. the story by Chevalier is based on
‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in Sect. 3. We consider it to be complex the scene painted by Vermeer, i.e. both story and scene are ideas.
enough as a initial assessment of the hypothesis, while different Moreover, an idea can be considered as a Mode, since it only exists
case studies will be used for assessment in future work. Moreover, when inhering an object: a producer, a materialized product or a
more details will be further addressed, such as the characters and consumer. A Story narrates events and is composed of Scenes that
props commonly used in storytelling [11]. narrate situations. A Painting materializes a scene, as well as a Book
materializes a story. Similarly a Biographic Record also materializes
2 A CORE CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR THE a story that is believed to be true, e.g. the baptism certificate of
GOLDEN AGENTS Vermeer materializes a story that tells where and when the event
of his baptism occurred. A particular type of record is the Notarial
The proposed common core conceptual model is presented in this
Act produced by a Notary.
section using UML class diagrams. Firstly, we introduce some generic
In addition, a story is considered to be real when enough evidence
concepts reused from an ontology called Unified Foundational On-
can be provided. Although intuitively a product is called evidence, it
tology (UFO) [6, 7] which provides the basic ground for the forth-
is the product and a certain context that gives it the role of evidence.
coming modeling decisions, namely:
For example, the simple existence of a piece of paper stating the
Individual is the general class containing all the instances baptism of Vermeer is not enough to be considered as evidence, as
(similar to owl:Thing). it should have characteristics that makes it believable as a baptism
Endurant is the class of individuals whose essential parts are certificate produced in the 17th century. Therefore, we consider
always present in any moment of its existence, e.g. a person, evidence to be a type of Situation that provides enough information
a book or an intention. to consider a story to be real.
An Object is an existentially independent endurant (e.g. Finally, when an idea is consumed, we consider that a Commu-
a person), which can be characterized by one or more of nication process was concluded, which therefore includes both the
its inherent Modes, e.g. an Intention to act. Objects that can idea’s production and consumption. For example, Vermeer’s ideas
intentionally do something are called Agents. Finally, a Sit- are still being communicated even after his death via his paintings.
uation describes an instantaneous setting of one or more Therefore the communication of an idea occurs by an Author to a
related objects and their modes, e.g. a person (intentionally) Consumer via a Medium. Media can be either material or immaterial
painting another person. products, e.g. books or theater performances.
Perdurant is the class of individuals whose essential parts are
present in different moments in time, contrarily to Endurant,
e.g. a theatre performance. 3 ASSESSMENT
An Event is an ordered sequence of Situations.
In order to assess the applicability of the proposed model, an instan-
In the UML diagrams presented hereby, these concepts are prefixed tiation schema is presented in Fig. 3 for the previously discussed
with the acronym ‘UFO’ (depicted in blue background color). More- example about Vermeer and the painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring".
over, the stereotype <> is used to indicate classes that are First of all, this schema presents horizontal lines as storylines, i.e.
contingently instantiated, e.g. an Individual eventually plays the a sequence of situations/events narrated by scenes/stories with a
role of Agent in a certain context. common characteristic: e.g. storyline of Vermeer’s life or of sources
A first part of the model is depicted in Fig. 1 and introduces of evidence in general. Callout-ballons present descriptions of situa-
concepts and relations ‘around’ Person, Product, Production and tions/events in storylines. Arrows crossing storylines represent that
Consumption specializing the concepts previously defined. Some a product in a storyline is narrating a situation/event in another
notes are included as a box with a ‘folded corner’ (depicted in pink- storyline. In particular, purple arrows indicate production events
ish background color) in order to illustrate some of the concepts2 . while red arrows indicate consumption events. Dotted arrows indi-
The descriptions start with an identifier for further reference (e.g. cate that an event that was not explicitly narrated can be derived
(Pr3) novel ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’). A Person can play several from a certain evidence. Finally, pentagons labeled with identifiers
roles as an Agent, in particular Producer and Consumer. A producer represent the instances that were exemplified in Fig. 1 and 2.
performs the act of Production, which has as outcome a Product that A baptism certificate from 1632 tells a story about the baptism
can be Material (e.g. a painting) or Immaterial (e.g. a discourse). A of Vermeer. Another evidence source indicates a story that later
consumer, in turn, performs the act of Consumption, which has a in 1665 Vermeer produced a painting that depicts a scene of a girl
product as income. For example, in order to produce the novel ‘Girl wearing a headscarf and a pearl earring looking in a certain way,
with a Pearl Earring’ in 1999, Chevalier consumed somehow the known as ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’. In this example the painting
referred painting produced by Vermeer in 1665. itself is considered to be the evidence. Centuries after, the painting
These concepts are further clarified by relating them to other was acquired by the Mauritshuis (source omitted in the example). In
concepts such as Idea, Story, Communication and Media. Therefore, 1999 a source of evidence reveals that Chevalier produced a novel
the model depicted in Fig. 2 extends the previous one (the concepts telling a story around the scene depicted in the referred painting
previously introduced are depicted in gray background color). An (again the evidence is considered to be the book itself). From this
Idea is an immaterial product that is produced by an Author and that evidence, we can also derive another event in Chevalier’s life: the
2 The title ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ is abbreviated as ‘GwPE’ in some of the notes.
‘consumption’ of that scene via the painting.
Toward a Core Conceptual Model for (Im)material Cultural Heritage in the Golden Agents project EVENTS2017, Sep 2017, Amsterdam
Figure 1: Part of the model Concerning Events, Production and Consumption.
Figure 2: Part of the model Concerning Idea, Story, Communication and Media.
EVENTS2017, Sep 2017, Amsterdam Veruska Zamborlini, Arianna Betti, and Charles van den Heuvel
Figure 3: Schema of the case study according to the proposed model
4 CONCLUSION ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We conclude that the proposed model does provide a common core This article was written in the context of the project Golden Agents funded by the
infrastructure to express our case study involving a painting, a Netherlands Organization of Science NWO-Large Investments program. The authors
book and a birth certificate. However, in order to become a concep- would like to thank the project’s members for fruitful discussions.
tual model for structuring and querying heterogeneous data in the
REFERENCES
Golden Agent project, let alone in cultural heritage infrastructures
[1] [n. d.]. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_with_a_Pearl_Earring. ([n. d.]).
in general, it still needs to be enriched to fully address the expert’s [2] [n. d.]. www.getty.edu/provenance_remodel/. ([n. d.]).
demands, e.g. if/when/how one (type of) art influenced another, [3] Arianna Betti and Hein van den Berg. 2014. Modelling the History of Ideas.
British Journal for the History of Philosophy 22, 4 (jul 2014), 812–835. https:
or which (type of) person consumed certain artistic productions. //doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2014.949217
In addition we will both: (i) assess the model for different case [4] Maria Teresa Biagetti. 2016. An ontological model for the integration of cultural
studies involving other forms of cultural heritage together with heritage information: CIDOC-CRM. JLIS.it 7, 3 (sep 2016), 43–77. https://doi.
org/10.4403/jlis.it-11930
the experts and (ii) implement and test it for integrating existing [5] N. Fallgren, M. Lauruhn, R. R. Reynolds, and L. Kaplan. 2014. The Missing Link:
datasets available as Linked Open Data. The Evolving Current State of Linked Data for Serials. The Serials Librarian 1-4
With respect to the complexity of the model, despite not covering (2014), 123–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2014.879690
[6] Giancarlo Guizzardi. 2005. Ontological foundations for structural conceptual models.
yet all the information of interest, we would argue both: (i) it is Ph.D. Dissertation. CTIT, Centre for Telematics and Information Technology,
important to deeply understand the complexity of the information Enschede. http://doc.utwente.nl/50826/
[7] Giancarlo Guizzardi, Gerd Wagner, Ricardo de Almeida Falbo, Renata S S Guiz-
at hand in order to find its common structure and (ii) it does not zardi, and Joao Paulo A Almeida. 2013. Towards Ontological Foundations for
mean that the implementation has to cover all this complexity, but the Conceptual Modeling of Events. In Conceptual Modeling (LNCS), Wilfred Ng,
the model can support ‘informed’ simplifications. VedaC. Storey, and JuanC. Trujillo (Eds.), Vol. 8217. Springer Berlin Heidelberg,
327–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41924-9_27
Finally, another important step is to further investigate and align [8] George Kubler. 1962. The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things (6th
with: ed.). Yale University Press, 122. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vkx7n
[9] Eetu Mäkelä, Tuukka Ruotsalo, and Eero Hyvönen. 1900. How to deal with mas-
(1) Related models that are commonly used in this domain (e.g. sively heterogeneous cultural heritage data âĂŞ lessons learned in CultureSampo.
CIDOC CRM [4], FRBRoo [5] and [11]; Semantic Web âĂŞ Interoperability Usability Applicability 3, 1 (jan 1900), 85–109.
https://doi.org/10.3233/SW-2012-0049
(2) Related work/projects that used a similar core model (e.g. [10] M De La Torre. 2002. Assessing the values of cultural heritage. Technical Report.
The Getty Research Institute [2, 10] and CultureSampo [9]); Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles. http://hdl.handle.net/10020/gci
(3) Foundational ontologies or other theories that support fur- [11] Dov Winer. 2014. Review of Ontology Based Storytelling Devices. LNCS 8002
(2014), 394–405. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-45324-3
ther modeling decisions (e.g. [3] and [8]).